Prelude to a Reckoning

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As you most certainly know by now, a “surprise report” was released today by Department Of Justice Inspector General Mike Horowitz. Of course not much should be a surprise here, as not only the report itself but its conclusions were (ironically) leaked at the end of July.

Then again, that was about 20 news cycles ago, which is an eternity in the modern age. Thus, the news hit everyone but the most hardened political nerds as if it came out of nowhere, and ended with the feeling that it would return to that very location.

Given that this particular IG report only covers a small fraction of the activities currently under investigation, we must be vigilant in not assigning more importance or meaning than warranted. The wait for justice has been long and hard and thus it’s understandable how one could react strongly one way or the other. But while the offenses of which are egregious enough on their own, today’s IG report is the intelligence equivalent of a jaywalking probe (mishandling FBI property) attached to a murder investigation (FISA fraud).

So with that larger context in mind, let’s examine the main takeaways of the latest IG report.